Free Family Tree Builder at Ancestry.com

January 10, 2010 | By Kimberly In Free Genealogy Software, Genealogy Site Reviews |

You have most certainly run across Ancestry.com in your online genealogy research. It’s pretty hard not to – they have the largest genealogy record collection on the Internet. Did you assume is was only a subscription-based genealogy site? Most people would think so. Well, I’m here to tell you that surprisingly, Ancestry.com does offer quite a bit of information and functionality for free. I will be talking about all of the free genealogy resources in later articles but today I want to focus on using the free family tree builder. The family tree builder allows you to have an online home for your genealogy information so you can always access it. The first thing you need is a free account. You can also get an Free 14-day Trial if you are interested in trying out the subscription-only database access but it is not required.

Once you have signed up and logged into Ancestry.com, you will see right on the home page the area to start your family tree by entering your own name (or whatever name you want to start with). Click Start Your Tree and you are on your way! The other way to build a tree is use the Upload GEDCOM file option. There is also a nice sample family tree so you can see what the final product might look like. After you upload your GEDCOM or add your names by typing them in manually, Ancestry.com works its magic and starts identifying potential matches to records in their vast database collection. The little leaf icon next to the names on your tree will tell you that potential matches have been found. You have the ability to link these records to the people in your tree. You can also upload photographs and add stories about the ancestors in your family tree. You can even add audio and video clips if you have them.

Your family tree can be made public or you can keep it private if you like. If you have a public tree, you can receive comments from other users and connect with others who are researching the same ancestors. You may invite your close family members to contribute to your tree as well. The free family trees on go hand-in-hand with Ancestry’s new toolbar, which I will cover in the next article so stay tuned! Don’t forget to head over to try a new Ancestry.com membership today to take advantage of this great free genealogy tool.